HUGE amounts of ivory are being sold illegally from shops in York, a top animal welfare charity has claimed.

The sale of any ivory that dates from after 1947 is strictly illegal in the UK, while "intentionally smuggling" ivory is also banned.

The substance, often used in ornaments, jewellery and piano keys, comes from elephant tusks. Elephants are still an endangered species and the International Fund For Animal Welfare (IFAW) claims ivory stockpile sales will lead to a surge in the killing of wild elephants.

But investigators from IFAW claim they discovered ivory on sale in two York outlets - and no papers to prove its age were available.

An IFAW spokesman claimed: "One stall-holder in York told undercover investigators that a ivory bead necklace was only 30 or 35 years old and urged them if they wanted to take it to the US to 'just stick it in your pocket and don't be too honest about it'."

The revelations were made in the IFAW report, Elephants On The High Street. The report is the result of an eight-week investigation and shows that most ivory in the UK is being sold illegally.

Jenny Hawley, the IFAW's York-based wildlife trade campaigner, said: "If the ivory trade is so poorly controlled within the UK, where we have some of the world's best enforcement systems to protect endangered species, what hope is there in countries with much fewer resources? Such countries will clearly stand little chance of stemming the elephant poaching and ivory smuggling which will inevitably result from any re-opening of the ivory trade."

The international ivory trade has been banned since 1989.

Updated: 10:37 Thursday, March 11, 2004